taylor@hplabsc.UUCP (Dave Taylor) (10/31/86)
"Freedom's Edge: The Computer Threat to Society", by Milton Wessel,
Addison-Weseley Publishing, 1974.
Milton Wessel is a lawyer who has recently specialized in computer and
computer-related areas of law. Previously, he was involved in a fair
amount of organized crime prosecution on the East Coast.
While the book itself is slightly dated, Wessel raises a number of
interesting points and has some fascinating examples of things going wrong.
As the book proceeds, it presents what Wessel calls his "Ten Commandments of
Computer Usage", and I'll use these as an outline for further comments:
"These Commandments express principles of computer usage only in the
broadest general terms. We do not yet have the information to do more.
Recognition of fundamental concepts of this kind, however, is an essential
first step to later defining such details as what is a "mass" data bank,
or what is "reasonable" under varying circumstances. Unfortunately, except
among a very small concerned segment of society primarily within the
computer profession itself, the process of developing these necessary
principles of conduct has not yet begun."
Wessel discusses the idea of a computer system as another public utility,
something that is supplied by the government (a la Minitel in France)...
"First Commandment. Access to a computer utility system shall not
unreasonably be withheld."
"Second Commandment. The information disclosed by a computer utility
system seeking response must be such as to permit the respondent
to provide an intelligent answer."
"Third Commandment. The information furnished by a computer utility
system must be such as to serve the public interest."
"Fourth Commandment. A computer utility credit card shall not unreasonably
be withheld from any individual."
The "utility credit card" is a proposed method of paying. The first four
rules are interesting and in the book they are more fully discussed. From
a reading here the third certainly seems to be an interesting idea - but
there are two objections - what is information and who decides what the
public interest is?
The point of technologically ignorant or fearful people having access to
the technology is never really raised, but Wessel *is* concerned with access
to the system for people that might not fit the establishment. This points to
a serious problem we have in our society currently, actually - the lack of
access to certain media if one isn't part of the mainstream of society.
"Fifth Commandment. A mass data bank shall be permitted to operate only
if the benefits associated with its operation outweigh the risks."
This is another point that can be debated in circles. The intention is
excellent, but the people who have commissoned and run the database are
certainly going to have a different view than the people who are listed in
the database. Criminals could, for example, state that the NCIC (National
Crime Information Center, run by the FBI) fails this criteria and should
therefore be shut down.
"Sixth Commandment. Computer standards should be fixed by fairly selected
and representative public organizations, so as to encourage maximum
reasonable interchange among computer systems and between economic
units, without unreasonably impending technological development."
This is perhaps the most questionable of the listed 'commandments'. The idea
of non-technical people setting standards and the resultant stagnation and
advantages accruing to those people who ignore the standards doesn't seem too
good. But there is a fine line between what we have now - with consumers
purchasing electronics just to have them be obsolete and, much worse, not
usable with the latest 'breed' of software versus the historical problems
of having rigid standards similar to the German ones which make selling a
computer that doesn't, for example, meet the stringent egonomics standards,
illegal. It's a tough area, but Wessel at least tries to confront it.
"Seventh Commandment. Public and quasipublic-sponsored computer services
must be supplied on terms and conditions which result in their fair
and equitable distribution to the public."
Thereby destroying the privilege of access, but not the privilege of being
able to get to and use the information.
"Eighth Commandment. The failure of a discrete unit of a computer
economic grid must result in immediate disconnect from the grid
without unreasonable harm to or interference with the rest of the
system."
This is referring to not only Point-of-Sale (POS) systems but to networks
like the Automatic Teller System (ATM). Wessel points out the problems
with stores that have their registers as POS systems tied directly to
inventory and thence directly to the distributors or wholesalers. It
becomes the old antitrust problem that has always plagued modern business.
"Ninth Commandment. The supplier of computer services to
the public must afford the ultimate consumer reasonable human response
and interaction, or be liable absolutely for error and harm done."
This would be a tough one to meet. Suprisingly for a lawyer, this really
suffers from ambiguous wording. What is "consumer reasonable" for example?
The final 'commandment' is the least palatable of all because it legislates
behaviours of individuals;
"Tenth Commandment. Government officials, professionals in and out
of the computer industry, educators, and other leaders must
study the impact of the computer on society, discuss and publish
their efforts, and inform the public of their views.
Public Understanding Rule 1. Laymen must not hesitate to ask
questions of computer professionals because they consider the
computer too complex, or are reluctant to disclose their ignorance.
Public Understnading Rule 2. Computer professionals must answer lay
questions in terms which are understandable to laymen."
As is obvious, to enforce this would take a system even more sophisticated
than the nightmare George Orwell envisioned in ``1984''.
The individual criticisms aside, I think the book is well written and well
worth reading, especially if you're interested in the legal ramifications
of databases, information liability, intellectual copyright and so on.
-- Dave Taylortaylor@hplabsc.UUCP (Dave Taylor) (11/04/86)
This article is from rutgers!meccts!meccsd!mecc!sewilco and was received on Sat Nov 1 18:16:28 1986 >"Freedom's Edge: The Computer Threat to Society", by Milton Wessel, > Addison-Weseley Publishing, 1974. ... > "Eighth Commandment. The failure of a discrete unit of a computer > economic grid must result in immediate disconnect from the grid > without unreasonable harm to or interference with the rest of the > system." > >This is referring to not only Point-of-Sale (POS) systems but to networks >like the Automatic Teller System (ATM). Wessel points out the problems >with stores that have their registers as POS systems tied directly to >inventory and thence directly to the distributors or wholesalers. It >becomes the old antitrust problem that has always plagued modern business. >... The other commandments mostly seem oriented toward information banks, while the Eighth and your summary seem more like business transaction systems. If a company connects its inventory system "directly" to its distributors or wholesalers, I expect it would be more flexible than implied by the phrase "the old antitrust problem". If a purchasing system were that highly automated, I would expect it to often know about several suppliers and scatter the orders as policy considers "best". If a supplier's computer fails, its transactions would not reach it and action would be taken, whether automatic or manual, to order through another communication path or get the items from another source. Scot E. Wilcoxon Minn Ed Comp Corp {quest,dicome,meccts}!mecc!sewilco